It’s been a while. What with Christmas, New Year and work commitments, I’ve not had much time to update you all.

So here we go!

Late in 2016 I flew to Holland to shoot a pilot for a potential new puppet TV show. As coordinator and principle puppeteer I had my work cut out for me, but it all went extremely well and everyone involved seemed happy and energized by the end product. It’s a crazy mix of music, adventure and comedy. I look forward to seeing the final product soon.

2016 ended on a high with the broadcast of The Furchester Christmas Special on BBC 1. The show was received extremely well, as have all the new episodes so far. Thank you all so much for watching.

A new batch of episodes started airing on CBEEBIES on February 6th and runs for a few weeks.

The other big bit of news is that the first 2 seasons of the show are now available on NETFLIX in the UK and USA.

This gives our friends in the US a better chance to see it than ever! It’s also broadcasting on THE SPROUT CHANNEL in America if you don’t have access to NETFLIX.

As always there are plenty of episodes still available on the BBC IPLAYER.

The last couple of weeks have been full of activity as we create content for the new Furchester attaction at CBEEBIES LAND/ALTON TOWERS. We’ve been shooting new footage for commercials and the attraction itself, as well as recording the audio for a brand new Furchester adventure. It’s all under wraps at the moment, but I’ll let you know more closer to the opening.

It’s the beginning of the year (just) and the rest of 2017 looks like it could be very exciting. As usual there is very little I can say about ANYTHING at the moment. I’m about to shoot a series of commercials for JAYWING, which will give me a chance to work with the ever brilliant KIM SCOPES again. I’ve worked with her in the past on NEWZOIDS and the music video CHUNKY for the band FORMAT:B.

Well, that was a long summer wasn’t it! Apologies for the lack of posts but it’s been a very full few months, mostly because of the kids being home for the holidays and various travels. However, I’m back now and catching up!

Over the last few months we’ve had the Cbeebies Big Day Out with The Furchester Hotel (I’ll post more about that another time) the launch of the Furchester Hotel Magazine, and as of yesterday the new Furchester Hotel DVD is available. I’m also very pleased to say that my Twitter feed hit well over 1000 followers!

Plenty to be getting on with!

The DVD contains 6 episodes of the TV show for your little ones to enjoy and is available at most major outlets. You can also find out about what’s going on at The Furchester Hotel Facebook page!

Over the next few weeks I’ll updating more often and adding more content.

I had a blast recording the voice over for this in a rather chaotic and exhausting 3 hour session. It’s strange when you get to that point where the line “oh look at that great pile of cakes!” can reduce you to tears of laughter.

I love doing voice over work.

Don’t forget that there are still episodes of The Furchester available on the BBC iplayer. If you are in the USA you can get episodes on iTunes or on the Furchester YouTube channel. Links below!

Now THIS was a fun episode to shoot. Furgus opens a dog-walking service but the dog would rather play chase.

We used the second floor of the Furchester quite a bit on this one. The lobby floor part of the set is raised so the puppeteers can stand up while performing. This give you a fantastic freedom of movement.

No such luck on the second floor. So there was much scooting around while sat on little trolleys. The shots of Furgus walking the dog on the second floor required much coordination of arms, legs, trolleys, cables and monitors.

Turned out great!

Tune in to Cbeebies at 7:35am tomorrow morning to see the result!

This is the last new episode for a little while. Next week we are in repeat mode.

Now, tomorrow’s episode of The Furchester Hotel is a special one. It’s the first episode we ever shot. Our first day in studio with a crew we didn’t know and a set we were still getting to grips with.

At this point you are still finding your feet. By the end of the shoot we were a well oiled machine (most of the time) but on the first day you’re still learning who the characters are and have no idea where the toilets or the coffee machine are located.

“Organised chaos” is the phrase that springs to mind.

I also had a stinking cold! So Furgus may sound a little more gruff than usual.